Nokia held a press event early Monday to kick off Mobile World Congress 2008 with two updates to their N-Series line of multimedia computers.  The N96 and N78 add features and update the styling of the N95 and N73 models, respectively.

The Nokia N96 is the new king of Nokia's mobile phone lineup.  Picking up where the N95 left off, the 96 features revamped styling, the Series 60 FP2 platform, 16 GB of internal memory and a microSD expansion card slot, DVB-H for mobile TV, dedicated multimedia and gaming keys (the latter for Nokia's revitalized N-Gage gaming platform), the Nokia Maps 2.0 app, and a hidden kickstand to prop the handset up while viewing widescreen media.  All of this on top of the 5MP Carl Zeiss camera with 30 fps video recording and dual LED lights, WiFi, 2.8 QVGA display, GPS, and Quad-Band GSM radio that we've come to know and love in the N95 it replaces.  Sadly, the N96 will initially ship only in a European 3.5G configuration, and won't ship until Q3 of this year at that.  And, oh yeah, it's gonna cost around $800 US when it does hit the virtual shelves at Nokia.com.

Meantime, the N78 is a candybar phone in the tradition of the N73, but with the new N-Series sleeker, curvier lines.  And this one will ship in both European and North American versions so you can get your HSDPA on stateside as soon as Q2 of this year.  The N78 adds S60 FP2, WiFi, AGPS with picture geotagging and an integrated FM transmitter to the N73's popular 3.2 MP cameraphone setup.  This one should run just over $500 US when it starts shipping.

Check 'em both out at Nokia's N-Series website: N96 product page & N78 product page.